The Ask the Real Estate Lawyer column by Samuel Tamkin answers your questions about real estate and the law. These helpful articles by Ilyce Glink and real estate attorney Samuel Tamkin cover all sorts of topics, everything from buying a vacation home to selling investment property.
Paying Property Taxes Without Escrow Account
A mortgage lender wants to make sure that real estate taxes are always paid. If the real estate tax bill for your home isn't paid, the house could be sold to someone who agreed to pay the taxes owed and you and the lender could be left out in the cold. You could lose your home and the lender could lose its interest in the home. In some circumstances, however, lenders will waive the requirement of a tax escrow. The lender must feel assured that you will pay the property taxes, and in some states you must fulfill certain requirements.
Title Insurance Company Can Discover Deed Problems
Is a general or special warranty deed better for selling property? When selling a residential property, the type of warranty deed you use, or title, isn't so important. A special warranty deed is usually used for commercial real estate sales. During the home sale process, a title company will run a title search and discover any problems with the deed or title. Usually a general warranty deed is used when selling a residential property.
Mortgage Lender Misrepresents Mortgage Loan
When you get an FHA mortgage loan you get an FHA number. But is an FHA number enough to prove that you have an FHA mortgage? What if your mortgage lender has you pay FHA mortgage fees but you later discover you don't have an FHA mortgage loan?
Court Assigns Guardian For Elderly Homeowner
A homeowner who is in a nursing home and has a management company assigned by the court to manage her home. Her home of 28 years was foreclosed back in early 2005. The management company was not her guardian at the time. But, her son wants to redeem this house and have her quit claim a deed to him. Is this legal? There could be all kinds of legal problems with this arrangement.
Lawsuit May Be More Trouble Than It’s Worth
A borrower worked with a debt management company in another state that did not provide the services they promised. Now the borroweris trying to get a refund for those services.The borrower has done all the right things by filing complaints with various agencies, but the difficult task of suing the company may be their only resort. In some instances, you might pay more in legal fees and costs that what you recover.
Changing Title Involves Contacting Relatives In Inheritance
If you buy property with someone and he or she dies how can you ensure that you have clear title to the home? Generally, when someone dies his or her share of a property goes to his or her next of kin. You have to track down your real estate partner's relatives to get them to sign a quit claim deed or so you can buy them out of the property. A real estate attorney may also be able to help you in this situation.
Real Estate Commission And Protected Buyer List
When you're looking to buy a property you may end up on a "protected buyer" list. When a listing contract ends, the listing real estate broker wants to make sure the seller does not contact any of the people the listing real estate broker showed the property to and deprive him of a commission. If the seller and the real estate agent can't agree on the protected buyer list or the commission it could delay the sale.